Knock-offs and straight-up copycats are nothing new in the video game industry. There was a whole factory dedicated to exploiting Hollow Knight: Silksong hype with barely working ripoffs, and Larian Studios itself wagged its finger at a shameless Baldur’s Gate 3 copy. But few are as blatant and hilarious as this Mario Strikers ripoff that just touched down on Xbox.
How blatant are we talking? Well, the top-down sports game is literally called Mariostro Strikers: Soccer League. What’s even funnier is the cover art that features a moustachioed man, clad in red, and almost definitely uses AI if the wonky background characters are anything to go by. Seriously, one of them has a Mr. Fantastic arm-ear.
The Xbox Store description adds even more humor to the situation since developer LightGamess – who I couldn’t find anywhere else on the internet and shouldn’t be confused for awesome retro devs Light Games – seemingly forgot to put the game’s name into a pre-written blurb.
Nintendo Switch 2 might be getting Xbox games, but Xbox Series X|S just got the next best thing: Mariostro Strikers
